Suggestions for NEXT WEEK, please!

[Bren's Mom]

Hello all, I'm a member of a non-profit organization that supports families with a parent suffering a life-threatening illness and who have children 18 and under. We have a family going to Disney next week, they fly in on Saturday. Art of Animation. Mom, Dad, and girls 9 and 3. 4 days of park tickets, 2 days of rest/resort.

None have EVER been to Disney. And they're very overwhelmed. They asked me to give them specific suggestions of places to eat, if possible. As you know, reservations are hard to come by for many places, especially last minute.

The girls love the princesses, of course, and Frozen the best. They are 'kids meal' type kids, mom and dad are open to any type of food.

I'd love one princess-y meal, but can't seem to find available reservations anywhere for them.

Any suggestions for places I can go in and make them reservations for, perhaps some 'diamonds in the rough' that aren't super popular and maybe I haven't heard about? They can do Disney Springs or any resort on their non-park days too. Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

 

[jsternad]

what an awful situation for them. so glad you're helping them!

Give me their dates and I'll help you look! Do they care if they are off time? Early dinner/late lunch?

 

[sharonabe]

Any suggestions for places I can go in and make them reservations for, perhaps some 'diamonds in the rough' that aren't super popular and maybe I haven't heard about? They can do Disney Springs or any resort on their non-park days too. Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

For princess-y, keep trying for 1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian for dinner (Cinderella is there) and for Akershus for any meal. There is also a new breakfast over at the Boardwalk (name escapes me) that has a breakfast with 3 of the princesses and their beaus.

You might also make a call to Disney Dining and tell them the situation. They may be able to work some pixie dust for you.

Some other fun places would be Biergarten or Coral Reef at EP, 50's Prime Time at HS, and Tusker House at AK. 1900 Park Fare would also be fun for breakfast, but characters are Mary Poppins and Winnie the Pooh.

 

[Marissa227]

For princess-y, keep trying for 1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian for dinner (Cinderella is there) and for Akershus for any meal. There is also a new breakfast over at the Boardwalk (name escapes me) that has a breakfast with 3 of the princesses and their beaus.

You might also make a call to Disney Dining and tell them the situation. They may be able to work some pixie dust for you.

Some other fun places would be Biergarten or Coral Reef at EP, 50's Prime Time at HS, and Tusker House at AK. 1900 Park Fare would also be fun for breakfast, but characters are Mary Poppins and Winnie the Pooh.

It's the Bon Voyage breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno. Do you know if they are renting a car? Resort dining might be complicated for first timers if they are relying only on the bus system.... they would be spending a lot of time traveling in my opinion.

 

[OasterP]

I agree that for Princesses, if CRT isn't available (likely), 1900 is fun and a buffet, so lots of options. I haven't been to Akershus, but it has the princesses - the food is a little less "kid friendly", but still worth a shot. The Boardwalk one is the Bon Voyage breakfast. It has Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Ariel, and Eric. They are only there for breakfast.

 

[Bren's Mom]

They are traveling 6/10-17. So 11-16 are the dates we're really talking about.

Their current itinerary:

Sunday Magic Kingdom
Monday Epcot
Tuesday Resort Day
Wed Animal Kingdom
Thursday Resort Day
Friday Hollywood Studios

I'll check on 1900 Park Fare and Akershus again. And the Bon Voyage Breakfast.

They're very easy going and flexible, so an off time shouldn't be an issue at all, especially if I can get them into the princess something or other. LOL

No car, so yes, I do know it will take them a bit to get to a resort.

Is Disney Springs easier to get to? Any restaurants there to suggest also?

 

[jsternad]

Raglan Road at Disney Springs is AMAZING. So much fun! It's our favorite place to eat when we're there! Great live music and Irish Dancing.
Crystal Palace is a great character meal, I love it for breakfast.
Garden Grill is an awesome character meal and the restaurant is so neat. This is my favorite character meal!
I loved Liberty Tree Tavern when we were just there, though it's not as fun for the kids. GREAT food, neat theme and right there in MK.
I loved 50's Prime Time in HS. Really fun theme for all!
Biergarten would be fun for the kids and I've heard it's yummy - music and dancing.
San Angel Inn is yummy and the inside is super neat, I think the kids would like it.
Akershus would definitely be the best for Princesses besides CRT, I'll keep looking for an ADR. There is a chance they could find an ADR the day before or day of.
Via Napoli is good pizza, I've heard Mama Melrose is good for Italian, love Tutto Italia, and Le Cellier is in a cool castle-type building and the food is delicious.

Can I ask what the organization is? I feel like I would really love to help families like this.

 

[jsternad]

On Monday the 12th there are 2 breakfast ADRs for Garden Grille, 840 & 910.

Liberty Tree Tavern has lunch and dinner ADRs available on Sunday the 11th.

I would suggest Disney Springs on the Wednesday they go to AK - AK is never more than a half day park for us. Raglan Road has several dinner ADRs open that evening.

50's Prime Time has several lunch and dinner ADRs for Friday and so does Mama Melrose.

Dude - there's a 730 dinner at BoG on Sunday. Tell them to book that quick!! -- nevermind, it's already gone.

 

[Amelia :)]

On the 11.6.17 there is a breakfast at Crystal Palace or park fare, there's also slots for dinner at Crystal Palace. Not princesses but both very pretty restaurants with good characters.

 

[Amelia :)]

On their Epcot day there is a park fare dinner (Cinderella) if they would be willing to get the monorail round from Epcot. There's also lots of slots for garden Grill which is great. On their HS day I can see an akerhaus lunch is they have park hoppers?

 

[VAfamily1998]

I agree with Jsternad about Raglan Road, especially with the ages of their girls. Go when they have the Irish dancers performing--they will bring children up on stage and teach them to dance and it is SO CUTE!

 

[jsternad]

I agree with Jsternad about Raglan Road, especially with the ages of their girls. Go when they have the Irish dancers performing--they will bring children up on stage and teach them to dance and it is SO CUTE!

If you could see the video I have on my phone of my 4yo up there dancing you would DIE (and then my 8yo joined her). It was the highlight of the trip as far as dinner entertainment.

 

[Carolyn Louise]

Why don't you use the Touring Plans reservation finder for CRT, Akershus, 1900 Park Fare etc? You can search 2 restaurants at once and you'll be notified if a reservation becomes available. I signed up for CRT and the very same day I had a reservation for me and my bf. This was only 2 weeks ago and we are going there on Saturday. Wish I could give you mine, but the party size and dates would not work.

 

[Bren's Mom]

Carolyn Louise, I don't know anything about the Touring Plans reservation finder...will go google now!

Thank you everyone! I'll keep looking and having some more specific ideas is SUPER helpful. BOG wasn't even on my radar. I work a 'real' FT job, plus my own family and kids, in addition to serving on the board for this great organization so I sometimes have to do other things. I'm making their reservations, they're overwhelmed enough right now. (And I'm an 'off site' gal, so my family doesn't do Disney restaurants too often.)

No park hoppers, dad is pretty ill. So while he's mobile (scooter assisted for the parks) he tires very easily. I don't expect they'll do long or intensive park days. They'll enjoy what they can, and then just enjoy each other.

Jsternad (and anyone else interested) the organization is Treasured Time. www.treasuredtime.org or Treasured Time on Facebook. We're a 501(c)(3) based in CT, and currently only able to support CT families, but we do hope eventually to grow enough to be in other states as well. I'm in the process of planning the trip for our 26th family! It's truly a labor of love for all of us who volunteer. Often we're compared to Make A Wish for adults, but really it's less about the 'wish' of going to X place, and more about the 'wish' to spend quality time with the family free of Dr visits and treatments, financial worries, etc. Most of our recipients are happy to go anywhere. Some have a specific destination, though, like Disney.

A recent recipient asked to go to Buffalo where he's from. He and his wife have a 12 year old son (with autism), a 2 year old, and a new baby. He was diagnosed while she was on maternity leave, and given a 3-6 mo life expectancy. That was around March 1st, and sadly, he's declining quickly. He is a huge Buffalo Bills fan, and his 12 year old very much wanted his little sisters to see Niagara Falls with all of them together. So we did a fast app process and fast approval turnaround, had a huge response from the amazing and wonderful people in the Buffalo area, and they are on their trip now. They had an amazing day yesterday at New Era Stadium where the Bills play and got to meet players, go on the field, you name it. It is very emotional for me that Jay, the dad, will most likely not see his baby girl's 1st birthday, but the memories and the pictures of this trip will last the family he leaves behind forever. That's what sustains us in this mission, knowing we can't change the outcome, but we can make the outcome slightly easier to bear for them having had their 'Gift of Moments'.

I lead the Implementation Team, and yes, I'm always happy to have help! If you or anyone wishes to volunteer for us on the trip planning team, you can be anywhere in the country. I often need people to help me find the best package deal for Disney, or send emails looking for a VRBO donation for a condo or house, make FastPass and meal reservations for the recipients who want us to do that for them, sit on hold with Disney dining, help research for specific wishes in other places, reach out for in-kind donations, etc. Please send me a PM if this is something you'd like to do!

And thank you again to everyone who's responded! Even that small thing is helpful!

 

[Laurieannc]

I was able to get a breakfast reservation for 4 for Akershus for June 12 at 8:35 am. Let me know if you want to coordinate where I will cancel the reservation and you can pick it up on the dining website. Sounds like such a nice thing you are doing.

 

[Bren's Mom]

I was able to get a breakfast reservation for 4 for Akershus for June 12 at 8:35 am. Let me know if you want to coordinate where I will cancel the reservation and you can pick it up on the dining website. Sounds like such a nice thing you are doing.

You rock!!! Yes, please, that would be SO AWESOME!! I tried all day and could only find a 9:45p dinner at one of the places, and that's just too late with a 4 year old and a sick dad. I'll send you a message. Thank you!!

 

[Loveallthingsmouse]

Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios has availability. Breakfast and Lunch have Disney Junior characters, dinner characters are Minnie & Friends.

 

[Bren's Mom]

Hello again Disfriends,

I wanted to come back and share some sad news, and my heartfelt gratitude.

Our recipient Greg along with his wife and 2 little girls had a truly magical trip a few months ago, thanks in part to the assistance of many of you who reached out and helped me with the planning. Their breakfast at Akershus that we were ultimately able to secure for them, was a huge hit. And Greg was so thrilled each time he sent me an update. They loved every minute, and the smiles from all of them were priceless.

Sadly, Greg lost his battle with cancer yesterday. The wonderful memories the family created together, will undoubtedly help his wife and daughters during this sad time.

These losses are hard for us too, as we grow to love each of our recipients. And Greg was a particularly amazing human, with a zest for life and love, right until the end. He will be missed.

Thank you, each of you, from the bottom of my heart, for helping us to give this family the very best ‘Gift of Moments’.

Fondly, Bren’s Mom xo